Methods and systems for efficiently storing data at a plurality of storage tiers using a transfer data structure

ABSTRACT

Methods and systems for a networked system are provided. One method includes receiving a request by a processor to transfer a data block stored at a first storage tier to the second storage tier; using an object staging data structure to determine that an object is available for transferring the data block from the first storage tier to the second storage tier. The object staging data structure an indicator providing a status for the object and an object length and an offset value of a transfer log indicating where information regarding the data block is stored. The method further includes updating an address of the storage tier where the information regarding data block is stored at the transfer log; increasing the object length and the offset value at the object staging data structure; and creating the object at the second tier.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This patent application claims priority of and is a continuation of U.S.patent application Ser. No. 14/994,971, filed on Jan. 13, 2016, thedisclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to networked storage environments, andmore particularly, to efficiently use storage capacity.

BACKGROUND

Various forms of storage systems are used today. These forms includedirect attached storage, network attached storage (NAS) systems, storagearea networks (SANs), and others. Storage systems are commonly used fora variety of purposes, such as providing multiple users with access toshared data, backing up data and others.

A storage system typically includes at least one computing system (mayalso be referred to as a “server” or “storage server”) executing astorage operating system configured to store and retrieve data on behalfof one or more client computing systems at one or more storage devices.The storage operating system exports data stored at storage devices as astorage volume. A storage volume is a logical data set which is anabstraction of physical storage, combining one or more physical massstorage devices or parts thereof into a single logical storage object.From the perspective of a client computing system each storage volumecan appear to be a single storage device. However, each storage volumecan represent storage space in one storage device, an aggregate of someor all of the storage space in multiple storage devices. Continuousefforts are being made to better manage storage devices and efficientlyprovide access to stored data.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The various features of the present disclosure will now be describedwith reference to the drawings of the various aspects disclosed herein.In the drawings, the same components may have the same referencenumerals. The illustrated aspects are intended to illustrate, but not tolimit the present disclosure. The drawings include the followingFigures:

FIG. 1 shows an example of an operating environment for the variousaspects disclosed herein;

FIG. 2A shows an example of a clustered storage system, used accordingto one aspect of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2B shows an example of a storage operating system, used accordingto one aspect of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 shows an example of an inode, used according to one aspect of thepresent disclosure;

FIG. 4 shows an example of a buffer tree, used according to one aspectof the present disclosure;

FIG. 5A shows a block diagram with details of a file system manager,according to one aspect of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5B shows the structure of physical volume block numbers for aperformance tier storage and a capacity tier storage, used according toone aspect of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5C shows a process for using a transfer data structure (TLOG),according to one aspect of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5D shows an example of an object staging data structure and thetransfer data structure, according to one aspect of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 6A shows a process for writing data using a TLOG, according to oneaspect of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6B shows a process for reading data, according to one aspect of thepresent disclosure;

FIG. 6C shows an example of retrieving data from a capacity tier,according to one aspect of the present disclosure;

FIG. 7 shows an example of a storage system node, used according to oneaspect of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 8 shows an example of a processing system, used according to oneaspect of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

As a preliminary note, the terms “component”, “module”, “system,” andthe like as used herein are intended to refer to a computer-relatedentity, either software-executing general purpose processor, hardware,firmware and a combination thereof. For example, a component may be, butis not limited to being, a process running on a hardware processor, ahardware processor, an object, an executable, a thread of execution, aprogram, and/or a computer.

By way of illustration, both an application running on a server and theserver can be a component. One or more components may reside within aprocess and/or thread of execution, and a component may be localized onone computer and/or distributed between two or more computers. Also,these components can execute from various computer readable media havingvarious data structures stored thereon. The components may communicatevia local and/or remote processes such as in accordance with a signalhaving one or more data packets (e.g., data from one componentinteracting with another component in a local system, distributedsystem, and/or across a network such as the Internet with other systemsvia the signal).

Computer executable components can be stored, for example, atnon-transitory, computer readable media including, but not limited to,an ASIC (application specific integrated circuit), CD (compact disc),DVD (digital video disk), ROM (read only memory), floppy disk, harddisk, EEPROM (electrically erasable programmable read only memory),memory stick or any other storage device, in accordance with the claimedsubject matter.

In one aspect of the present disclosure a transfer data structure(referred to as a transfer log) is provided. When data has to be movedfrom a performance tier to a capacity tier, the data is first bufferedusing the TLOG. This enables storage operating system consistency for adata tiering process and also avoids updating block pointers when datais moved, as described below in detail.

In one aspect, the TLOG is a data structure used for holding informationabout the data that is to be written to a capacity tier. An object isgenerated to move the data. A staging metafile tracks while the objectis being built. If a request is received to read data while the objectis still being built, then the TLOG is used to retrieve the data asdescribed below in detail.

In one aspect, methods and systems for a networked system are provided.One method includes receiving a request by a processor to transfer adata block stored at a first storage tier to the second storage tier;using an object staging data structure to determine that an object isavailable for transferring the data block from the first storage tier tothe second storage tier. The object staging data structure includes anindicator providing a status for the object, an object length and anoffset value of a transfer log indicating where information regardingthe data block is stored. The method further includes updating anaddress of the storage tier where the information regarding the datablock is stored at the transfer log; increasing the object length andthe offset value at the object staging data structure; and creating theobject at the second tier.

System 100:

FIG. 1 shows an example of a networked storage environment 100 (alsoreferred to as system 100), for implementing the various adaptive aspectof the present disclosure. System 100 may include a plurality ofcomputing devices 102A-102N (may also be referred to individually as ahost platform/system 102 or simply as server 102) communicably coupledto a storage system (or storage server) 108 that executes a storageoperating system 134 via a connection system 110 such as a local areanetwork (LAN), wide area network (WAN), the Internet and others. Asdescribed herein, the term “communicably coupled” may refer to a directconnection, a network connection, or other connections to enablecommunication between devices.

As an example, host system 102A may execute a plurality of virtualmachines (VMs) in a virtual environment that is described below indetail. Host 102N may execute one or more application 142, for example,a database application (for example, Oracle application), an emailapplication (Microsoft Exchange) and others that use the storage system108 to store information. Host 102N also executes an operating system145, for example, a Windows based operating system, Linux, Unix andothers (without any derogation of any third party trademark rights).

Clients 116A-116N (may be referred to as client (or user) 116) arecomputing devices that can access storage space at the storage system108. A client can be the entire system of a company, a department, aproject unit or any other entity. Each client is uniquely identified andoptionally, may be a part of a logical structure called a storage tenant140. The storage tenant 140 represents a set of users (may be referredto as storage consumers) for a storage provider 124 (may also bereferred to as a cloud manager, where cloud computing is beingutilized). Where a storage provider 124 is being used, the clientaccesses storage through the storage provider. It is noteworthy that theadaptive aspects of the present disclosure are not limited to using astorage provider or a storage tenant and may be implemented for directclient access.

In one aspect, storage system 108 has access to a first set of massstorage devices 118-120 within at least one storage subsystem 112 thatis referred to as a performance tier, a hybrid storage device system.The mass storage devices 118 may include solid state drives (SSDs),while the mass storage devices 120 may include writable storage devicemedia such as hard disk drives (HDD), magnetic disks, video tape,optical, DVD, magnetic tape, and any other similar media adapted tostore information. The storage devices 118-120 may be organized as oneor more groups of Redundant Array of Independent (or Inexpensive) Disks(RAID). The various aspects disclosed are not limited to any particularstorage device type or storage device configuration.

The storage system also has access to an object based storage 124 at acapacity tier 128. The term object as defined herein means a chunk ofdata written together in an object tier. The object based storage 124may be slower than the performance tier 112 storage. In one aspect, datastored at the object store 124 is managed using an object identifier andan offset value within the object, as described below in detail. Thecapacity tier 128 may be used in a cloud based environment. The adaptiveaspects described herein are not limited to the cloud based environment.

As an example, the storage system 108 may provide a set of logicalstorage volumes (or logical unit numbers (LUNs)) that presents storagespace to clients and VMs for storing information. Each volume may beconfigured to store data files (or data containers or data objects),scripts, word processing documents, executable programs, and any othertype of structured or unstructured data. From the perspective of one ofthe client systems, each volume can appear to be a single drive.However, each volume can represent storage space at one storage device,an aggregate of some or all of the storage space in multiple storagedevices, a RAID group, or any other suitable set of storage space.

The storage operating system 134 organizes storage space at theperformance tier 112 as one or more “aggregate”, where each aggregate isidentified by a unique identifier and a location. Within each aggregate,one or more storage volumes are created whose size can be varied. Aqtree, sub-volume unit may also be created within the storage volumes.As a special case, a qtree may be an entire storage volume.

The storage system 108 may be used to store and manage information atstorage devices in either the performance tier 112 or the capacity tier128 based on a request. The request may be based on file-based accessprotocols, for example, the Common Internet File System (CIFS) protocolor Network File System (NFS) protocol, over TCP/IP. Alternatively, therequest may use block-based access protocols, for example, iSCSI andSCSI encapsulated over Fibre Channel (FCP).

To facilitate access to storage space, the storage operating system 134implements a file system that logically organizes stored information asa hierarchical structure for files/directories/objects at the storagedevices. Each “on-disk” file may be implemented as set of blocksconfigured to store information, such as text, whereas a directory maybe implemented as a specially formatted file in which other files anddirectories are stored. These data blocks are organized within a volumeblock number (VBN) space that is maintained by a file system of thestorage operating system 134 described below in detail. The file systemmay also assign each data block in the file a corresponding “fileoffset” or file block number (FBN). The file system typically assignssequences of FBNs on a per-file basis, whereas VBNs are assigned over alarger volume address space. The file system organizes the data blockswithin the VBN space as a logical volume. The file system typicallyconsists of a contiguous range of VBNs from zero to n, for a file systemof size n−1 blocks.

An example of storage operating system 134 is the Data ONTAP™ storageoperating system available from NetApp, Inc. that implements a WriteAnywhere File Layout (WAFL) file system (without derogation of anytrademark rights of NetApp Inc.). Of course, the various aspectsdisclosed herein are not limited to any specific file system type andmaybe implemented by other file systems.

The storage operating system 134 may further implement a storage module(for example, a RAID system for performance tier 112 that manages thestorage and retrieval of the information to and from storage devices inaccordance with input/output (I/O) operations. When accessing a block ofa file in response to servicing a client request, the file systemspecifies a VBN that is translated at the file system/RAID systemboundary into a disk block number (DBN) location on a particular storagedevice (disk, DBN) within a RAID group of the physical volume. Eachblock in the VBN space and in the DBN space is typically fixed, e.g., 4k bytes (kB), in size; accordingly, there is typically a one-to-onemapping between the information stored on the disks in the DBN space andthe information organized by the file system in the VBN space.

A requested block is retrieved from a storage device and stored in abuffer cache of a memory of the storage system 108 as part of a buffertree of the file. The buffer tree is an internal representation ofblocks for a file stored in the buffer cache and maintained by the filesystem. Broadly stated and as described below in detail, the buffer treehas an inode at the root (top-level) of the file, as described below.

An inode is a data structure used to store information, such asmetadata, about a file, whereas the data blocks are structures used tostore the actual data for the file. The information in an inode mayinclude, e.g., ownership of the file, access permission for the file,size of the file, file type and references to locations on disk of thedata blocks for the file. The references to the locations of the filedata are provided by pointers, which may further reference indirectblocks that, in turn, reference the data blocks, depending upon thequantity of data in the file. Each pointer may be embodied as a VBN tofacilitate efficiency among the file system and the RAID system whenaccessing the data.

Volume information (volinfo) and file system information (fsinfo) blocksspecify the layout of information in the file system, the latter blockincluding an inode of a file that includes all other inodes of the filesystem (the inode file). Each logical volume (file system) has an fsinfoblock that is preferably stored at a fixed location within, e.g., a RAIDgroup. The inode of the fsinfo block may directly reference (point to)blocks of the inode file or may reference the indirect blocks of theinode file that, in turn, reference direct blocks of the inode file.Within each direct block of the inode file are embedded inodes, each ofwhich may reference indirect blocks that, in turn, reference data blocks(also shown as L0 blocks) of a file. An example of an inode and a buffertree are provided below.

In a typical mode of operation, a client transmits one or moreinput/output (I/O) commands, such as a CFS or NFS request, overconnection system 110 to the storage system 108. Storage system 108receives the request, issues one or more I/O commands to storage devicesto read or write the data on behalf of the client system, and issues aCIFS or NFS response containing the requested data over the network 110to the respective client system.

As an example, system 100 may also include a virtual machine environmentwhere a physical resource is time-shared among a plurality ofindependently operating processor executable virtual machines (VMs).Each VM may function as a self-contained platform, running its ownoperating system (OS) and computer executable, application software. Thecomputer executable instructions running in a VM may be collectivelyreferred to herein as “guest software.” In addition, resources availablewithin the VM may be referred to herein as “guest resources.”

The guest software expects to operate as if it were running on adedicated computer rather than in a VM. That is, the guest softwareexpects to control various events and have access to hardware resourceson a physical computing system (may also be referred to as a hostplatform) which maybe referred to herein as “host hardware resources”.The host hardware resource may include one or more processors, resourcesresident on the processors (e.g., control registers, caches and others),memory (instructions residing in memory, e.g., descriptor tables), andother resources (e.g., input/output devices, host attached storage,network attached storage or other like storage) that reside in aphysical machine or are coupled to the host platform.

Host platform 102A includes/provides a virtual machine environmentexecuting a plurality of VMs 130A-130N that may be presented to clientcomputing devices/systems 116A-116N. VMs 130A-130N execute a pluralityof guest OS 104A-104N (may also be referred to as guest OS 104) thatshare hardware resources 120. Application 142 may be executed within VMs130. As described above, hardware resources 120 may include storage,CPU, memory, I/O devices or any other hardware resource.

In one aspect, host platform 102A interfaces with a virtual machinemonitor (VMM) 106, for example, a processor executed Hyper-V layerprovided by Microsoft Corporation of Redmond, Wash., a hypervisor layerprovided by VMWare Inc., or any other type. VMM 106 presents and managesthe plurality of guest OS 104A-104N executed by the host platform 102.The VMM 106 may include or interface with a virtualization layer (VIL)122 that provides one or more virtualized hardware resource to each OS104A-104N.

In one aspect, VMM 106 is executed by host platform 102A with VMs130A-130N. In another aspect, VMM 106 may be executed by an independentstand-alone computing system, referred to as a hypervisor server or VMMserver and VMs 130A-130N are presented at one or more computing systems.

It is noteworthy that different vendors provide different virtualizationenvironments, for example, VMware Corporation, Microsoft Corporation andothers. Data centers may have hybrid virtualizationenvironments/technologies, for example, Hyper-V and hypervisor basedvirtual environment. The generic virtualization environment describedabove with respect to FIG. 1 may be customized depending on the virtualenvironment to implement the aspects of the present disclosure.Furthermore, VMM 106 (or VIL 122) may execute other modules, forexample, a storage driver, network interface and others, the details ofwhich are not germane to the aspects described herein and hence have notbeen described in detail. The virtualization environment may usedifferent hardware and software components and it is desirable for oneto know an optimum/compatible configuration.

In one aspect, system 100 provides a management console 132 forconfiguring and managing the various components of system 100. As anexample, the management console may be implemented as or include one ormore application programming interface (API). The APIs may beimplemented as REST APIs, where REST means “Representational StateTransfer”. REST is a scalable system used for building web services.REST systems/interface may use HTTP (hyper-text transfer protocol) orother protocols for communicating.

Although storage system 108 is shown as a stand-alone system, i.e. anon-cluster based system, in another aspect, storage system 108 may havea distributed architecture; for example, a cluster based system that isdescribed below in detail with respect to FIG. 2A.

Clustered System:

Before describing the various aspects of the present disclosure, thefollowing describes a clustered networked storage environment 200. FIG.2A shows a cluster based storage environment 200 having a plurality ofnodes operating as resources to store data on behalf of clients ateither the performance tier or the capacity tier.

Storage environment 200 may include a plurality of client systems204.1-204.N as part of or associated with storage tenant 140, aclustered storage system 202 (similar to storage system 108) and atleast a network 206 communicably connecting the client systems204.1-204.N, the management console 132, the storage (or cloud) provider124 and the clustered storage system 202. It is noteworthy that thesecomponents may interface with each other using more than one networkhaving more than one network device.

The clustered storage system 202 includes a plurality of nodes208.1-208.3, a cluster switching fabric 210, and a plurality of massstorage devices in the performance tier 112.1-112.3 (similar toperformance tier 112). The nodes may also store data at capacity tier128, as described below in detail.

Each of the plurality of nodes 208.1-208.3 is configured to include anetwork module, a storage module, and a management module, each of whichcan be implemented as a processor executable module. Specifically, node208.1 includes a network module 214.1, a storage module 216.1, and amanagement module 218.1, node 208.2 includes a network module 214.2, astorage module 216.2, and a management module 218.2, and node 208.3includes a network module 214.3, a storage module 216.3, and amanagement module 218.3.

The network modules 214.1-214.3 include functionality that enable therespective nodes 208.1-208.3 to connect to one or more of the clientsystems 204.1-204.N (or the management console 132) over the computernetwork 206. The network modules handle file network protocol processing(for example, CFS, NFS and/or iSCSI requests). The storage modules216.1-216.3 connect to one or more of the storage devices at theperformance tier and/or the capacity tier and process I/O requests.Accordingly, each of the plurality of nodes 208.1-208.3 in the clusteredstorage server arrangement provides the functionality of a storageserver.

The management modules 218.1-218.3 provide management functions for theclustered storage system 202. The management modules 218.1-218.3 collectstorage information regarding storage devices.

A switched virtualization layer including a plurality of virtualinterfaces (VIFs) 219 is provided to interface between the respectivenetwork modules 214.1-214.3 and the client systems 204.1-204.N, allowingstorage space at the storage devices associated with the nodes208.1-208.3 to be presented to the client systems 204.1-204.N as asingle shared storage pool.

The clustered storage system 202 can be organized into any suitablenumber of storage virtual machines (SVMs) (may be referred to as virtualservers (may also be referred to as “SVMs”), in which each SVMrepresents a single storage system namespace with separate networkaccess. A SVM may be designated as a resource on system 200. Each SVMhas a client domain and a security domain that are separate from theclient and security domains of other SVMs. Moreover, each SVM isassociated with one or more VIFs 219 and can span one or more physicalnodes, each of which can hold one or more VIFs and storage associatedwith one or more SVMs. Client systems can access the data on a SVM fromany node of the clustered system, through the VIFs associated with thatSVM.

Each of the nodes 208.1-208.3 is defined as a computing system toprovide application services to one or more of the client systems204.1-204.N. The nodes 208.1-208.3 are interconnected by the switchingfabric 210, which, for example, may be embodied as a Gigabit Ethernetswitch or any other type of switching/connecting device.

Although FIG. 2A depicts an equal number (i.e., 3) of the networkmodules 214.1-214.3, the storage modules 216.1-216.3, and the managementmodules 218.1-218.3, any other suitable number of network modules,storage modules, and management modules may be provided. There may alsobe different numbers of network modules, storage modules, and/ormanagement modules within the clustered storage system 202. For example,in alternative aspects, the clustered storage system 202 may include aplurality of network modules and a plurality of storage modulesinterconnected in a configuration that does not reflect a one-to-onecorrespondence between the network modules and storage modules. Inanother aspect, the clustered storage system 202 may only include onenetwork module and storage module.

Each client system 204.1-204.N may request the services of one of therespective nodes 208.1, 208.2, 208.3, and that node may return theresults of the services requested by the client system by exchangingpackets over the computer network 206, which may be wire-based, opticalfiber, wireless, or any other suitable combination thereof.

Storage Operating System:

FIG. 2B illustrates a generic example of storage operating system 134(FIG. 1) executed by node 208.1, according to one aspect of the presentdisclosure. In one example, storage operating system 134 may includeseveral modules, or “layers” executed by one or both of network module214 and storage module 216. These layers include a file system manager240 that keeps track of a hierarchical structure of the data stored instorage devices and manages read/write operation, i.e. executesread/write operation on storage in response to client 204.1/204.Nrequests, as described below in detail.

Storage operating system 134 may also include a protocol layer 242 andan associated network access layer 246, to allow node 208.1 tocommunicate over a network with other systems, such as clients204.1/204.N. Protocol layer 242 may implement one or more of varioushigher-level network protocols, such as SAN (e.g. iSCSI) (242A), CIFS(242B), NFS (242C), Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) (not shown),TCP/IP (not shown) and others (242D).

Network access layer 246 may include one or more drivers, whichimplement one or more lower-level protocols to communicate over thenetwork, such as Ethernet. Interactions between clients' and massstorage devices are illustrated schematically as a path, whichillustrates the flow of data through storage operating system 134.

The storage operating system 134 may also include a storage access layer244 and an associated storage driver layer 248 to allow storage module216 to communicate with a storage device. The storage access layer 244may implement a higher-level storage protocol, such as RAID (redundantarray of inexpensive disks) (244A), a S3 layer 244B to access thecapacity tier described below in detail, and other layers 244C. Thestorage driver layer 248 may implement a lower-level storage deviceaccess protocol, such as FC or SCSI. The storage driver layer 248 maymaintain various data structures (not shown) for storing informationregarding storage volume, aggregate and various storage devices.

As used herein, the term “storage operating system” generally refers tothe computer-executable code operable on a computer to perform a storagefunction that manages data access and may, in the case of a node 208.1,implement data access semantics of a general purpose operating system.The storage operating system can also be implemented as a microkernel,an application program operating over a general-purpose operatingsystem, such as UNIX® or Windows XP®, or as a general-purpose operatingsystem with configurable functionality, which is configured for storageapplications as described herein.

In addition, it will be understood to those skilled in the art that thedisclosure described herein may apply to any type of special-purpose(e.g., file server, filer or storage serving appliance) orgeneral-purpose computer, including a standalone computer or portionthereof, embodied as or including a storage system. Moreover, theteachings of this disclosure can be adapted to a variety of storagesystem architectures including, but not limited to, a network-attachedstorage environment, a storage area network and a storage devicedirectly-attached to a client or host computer. The term “storagesystem” should therefore be taken broadly to include such arrangementsin addition to any subsystems configured to perform a storage functionand associated with other equipment or systems. It should be noted thatwhile this description is written in terms of a write any where filesystem, the teachings of the present disclosure may be utilized with anysuitable file system, including a write in place file system.

Inode Structure:

FIG. 3 shows an example of an inode structure 300 (may also be referredto as inode 300) used according to one aspect of the present disclosure.Inode 300 may include a meta-data section 302 and a data section 318.The information stored in the meta-data section 302 of each inode 300describes a file and, as such, may include the file type (e.g., regular,directory or object) 304, size 306 of the file, time stamps (e.g.,access and/or modification) 308 for the file and ownership, i.e., useridentifier (UID 310) and group ID (GID 312), of the file. The metadatasection 302 may also include a X-inode field 314 with a pointer 316 thatreferences another on-disk inode structure containing, e.g., accesscontrol list (ACL) information associated with the file or directory.

The contents of data section 318 of each inode 300 may be interpreteddifferently depending upon the type of file (inode) defined within thetype field 304. For example, the data section 318 of a directory inodestructure includes meta-data controlled by the file system, whereas thedata section of a “regular inode” structure includes user-defined data.In this latter case, the data section 318 includes a representation ofthe data associated with the file. Data section 318 of a regular on-diskinode file may include user data or pointers, the latter referencing,for example, 4 KB data blocks for storing user data at a storage device.

Inode structure 300 may have a restricted size (for example, 122 bytes).Therefore, user data having a size that is less than or equal to 64bytes may be represented, in its entirety, within the data section of aninode. However, if the user data is greater than 64 bytes but less thanor equal to, for example, 64 kilobytes (KB), then the data section ofthe inode comprises up to 16 pointers, each of which references a 4 KBblock of data stored at a disk. Moreover, if the size of the data isgreater than 64 kilobytes but less than or equal to 64 megabytes (MB),then each pointer in the data section 318 of the inode references anindirect inode that contains 1024 pointers, each of which references a 4KB data block on disk.

Buffer Tree:

FIG. 4 is an example of an inode buffer tree of a data container thatmay be used by the storage operating system 134. The buffer tree is aninternal representation of blocks for a data container (e.g., file A400) loaded into a buffer cache and maintained by the file system 240. Aroot (top-level) inode 402, such as an embedded inode, referencesindirect (e.g., Level 1) blocks 404. The indirect blocks (and inode)contain pointers 405 that ultimately reference data blocks 406 used tostore the actual data of file A. That is, the data of file A 400 arecontained in data blocks and the locations of these blocks are stored inthe indirect blocks of the file. Each Level 1 indirect block 404 maycontain pointers to many data blocks. According to the “write anywhere”nature of the file system, these blocks may be located anywhere at thestorage devices.

In one aspect, the file system 240 allocates blocks, and frees blocks,to and from a virtual volume (may be referred to as VVOL) of anaggregate. The aggregate, as mentioned above, is a physical volumecomprising one or more groups of storage devices, such as RAID groups,underlying one or more VVOLs of the storage system. The aggregate hasits own physical volume block number (PVBN) space and maintainsmetadata, such as block allocation bitmap structures, within that PVBNspace. Each VVOL also has its own virtual volume block number (VVBN)space and maintains metadata, such as block allocation bitmapstructures, within that VVBN space. Typically, PVBNs are used as blockpointers within buffer trees of files (such as file 400) stored in aVVOL.

As an example, a VVOL may be embodied as a container file in anaggregate having L0 (data) blocks that comprise all blocks used to holddata in a VVOL; that is, the L0 data blocks of the container filecontain all blocks used by a VVOL. L1 (and higher) indirect blocks ofthe container file reside in the aggregate and, as such, are consideredaggregate blocks. The container file is an internal (to the aggregate)feature that supports a VVOL; illustratively, there is one containerfile per VVOL. The container file is a hidden file (not accessible to auser) in the aggregate that holds every block in use by the VVOL.

When operating in a VVOL, VVBN identifies a FBN location within the fileand the file system uses the indirect blocks of the hidden containerfile to translate the FBN into a PVBN location within the physicalvolume, which block can then be retrieved from disk.

File System Manager 240/TLOG 512:

FIG. 5A shows an example of a block diagram of the file system manager240, according to one aspect of the present disclosure. The file systemmanager 240 includes a write allocator 504 that allocates blocks forwriting data. A buffer cache 500 is used to cache data. A PVBN hashmodule 502 is used to cache in-copies of blocks indexed by an aggregateidentifier and a PVBN. The use of the PVBNs are described below indetail.

A temperature tracker module 506 of the file system 240 tracks the“temperature” of stored data. Hot data is data that is frequentlyaccessed, based on a duration that is defined by the file system manager240. Cold data is data that is not frequently accessed. The temperaturetracker 506 interfaces with the read path to record read hits anddetermines read patterns. The temperature tracker 506 also interfaceswith a tiering policy manager 508 that determines how stored data istiered, i.e. stored at SSDs 118, HDD 120 or capacity tier 128. Thetiering policy manager 508 may store tiering policies that may be usedto ascertain where data is to be stored. This information is provided tothe temperature tracker 506. The temperature tracker 506 hooks into thebuffer cache 500 and PVBN hash 502 to determine which blocks getaccessed and how often. Data stored at the performance tier 112 that iscategorized as cold is transferred to the capacity tier 128, asdescribed below in detail.

A consistency point (CP) module 510 is used to manage CP operations. Inone aspect, when cold data is to be moved to the capacity tier, the datais marked as dirty. The CP module 510 then pushes the informationregarding the dirty data into a TLOG metadata structure 512 (alsoreferred to as TLOG 512) that is described below in detail. The data ismoved to the capacity tier 128 via a transfer module 514 and acommunication module 518.

The TLOG 512 enables data to be buffered while an object is still beingcreated, as described below in detail. The TLOG 512 may also be used toservice read requests for blocks that have not yet been moved to thecapacity tier 128 but are in the process of being sent i.e. while anobject is being built. Blocks associated with an object in the TLOG 512are freed only after they have been safely stored and depending oncapacity tier properties, verified that they have been storedsuccessfully.

In one aspect, an object tracker 520 finds free usable capacity tierPVBNs efficiently. This is performed by using an object identifier mapthat tracks used and unused object IDs. The object tracker 520 alsotracks reference counts of objects in the capacity tier 128 to ensurethat the object is not freed until nothing in the object is needed orreferenced.

The data read engine 513 is used fetch data from capacity tier 128 inresponse to read requests, as described below in detail. The compressionmodule 516 manages compression/de-compression of data stored at thecapacity tier.

The communication module 518 provides S3 APIs that are used to interfacewith capacity tier storage. The APIs may customized based on the storagevendor providing the capacity tier storage.

The RAID layer 244A using a storage driver 248A, for example, a FibreChannel driver is used to access the performance tier.

PVBN Format:

FIG. 5B shows a format of a capacity tier PVBN 520 and a RAID PVBN 519.The first few bits 520A (for example, 3 bits) of the capacity tier PVBNindicates that the PVBN is for a capacity tier. The object_ID (or objectID) 520B provides a unique object identifier, for example, as a 34-bitvalue to identify an object. A slot number 520C may be represented as a10-bit value. The slot number 520C indicates the location of a blockwithin an object. As an example, one object may include 1024, 4 KBblocks. The slot number indicates where a block is within that objecthaving a plurality of blocks.

The RAID PVBN type is indicated by a bit value shown as 519A and theRAID block number is represented by 519B.

Process Flow for Using TLOG 512:

FIG. 5C shows a process for building and tracking an object for thecapacity tier 128 using an object staging data structure and the TLOG512, according to one aspect of the present disclosure. The processbegins in block B522. In block B524, the TLOG 512 and an object stagingdata structure 532, shown in FIG. 5D are initialized.

When data has to be written to the capacity tier 128, an object is builtto include a plurality of data chunks/blocks, for example, 4 KB chunksof data in block B526. The object is tracked using the object stagingdata structure 532. After one or more objects have been built, theobject with its data is transferred to the capacity tier 128 in blockB530. The storage policy of the capacity tier 128 may dictate that thestorage operation be verified, before freeing up the space used by thetransferred object at TLOG.

Object Staging Data Structure:

FIG. 5D shows an example of using the object staging structure 532 andthe TLOG 512, according to one aspect of the present disclosure. TheTLOG 512 shows that one object 534 is ready and object 536 is still inthe process of being built. The already built and the in-process objectsare tracked by the object staging structure 532 which stores the objectID in column 532A, the state of the object in column 532B (i.e.indicating of the object is being built or ready), the length of theobject (i.e. the number of blocks that are already in the object) incolumn 532C and a TLOG FBN in column 532D. For example, object 12 is inthe process of being built and has three blocks of data at FBN 0, 1, 2(shown as 536). The object 42 is ready with 1024 blocks (shown as 534).The SSD PVBN is stored at the respective FBN of the TLOG indicating thePVBN of the performance tier where the actual data for a chunk resides.

In one aspect, an object ID map tracks the various object IDs that arein use. The write allocator 504 can track the object ID that is free anduse that for new objects. An object reference count is used to track theslots in an object that may be used by the file system.

Write Process Flow:

FIG. 6A shows a process 600 for writing data to the capacity tier 128,according to one aspect of the present disclosure. The process begins inblock B602. It is noteworthy that new data that is received by thestorage system 108 may first be written to the performance tier 112 forefficiency reasons because the performance tier 112 storage has fasteraccess than the capacity tier 128. A write request is first handled bythe write allocator 504.

In block B604, the process determines if a write request is for thecapacity tier 128. This may be determined based on if the request isfrom the CP module 510 to move data to the capacity tier 128. If thewrite request is for the performance tier 112, then in block B606, thedata is written by the RAID layer 244A using storage driver 248A. ThePVBN for RAID in this case are assigned by the RAID layer 244A.

When data is to be written at the capacity tier 128, then in block B608,the process first determines if an object is being currently built forthe capacity tier 128. This is determined by scanning the object stagingdata structure 532. If yes, then in block B610, the performance tierPVBN is added to the TLOG 512 as shown in FIG. 5D and the object PVBN isassigned with a slot number. The object staging data structure 532 isthen updated.

If an object is not being assembled, then a new object ID is assignedand added to the object staging data structure 532. The object ID isobtained from the object ID map. An object metafile entry is added andthe TLOG FBN (532D, FIG. 5D) is inserted. Details of the object stagingdata structure are provided above with respect to FIG. 5D.

After one or more object is ready, i.e. enough data is available for anobject at the object store 124, the object is generated by the transfermodule 514. The transfer module 514 uses the object metafile and theTLOG 512 to create the object. The object metafile (or data structure)is shown as 648 in FIG. 6C and includes an object ID, a sequence number,a buffer ID of a container file (BTID), a state for the object and areference count described below in detail. The data associated with theplurality of object chunks is then transferred to the capacity tier 128in block B616 and the process ends.

Read Process Flow:

FIG. 6B shows a process 620 for processing a read request, according toone aspect of the present disclosure. The process begins in block B622,when the storage system 108 is operational and functional. A readrequest is received in block B624. The process first determines if therequest is for the performance tier or the capacity tier. This isdetermined by detecting the PVBN fields 520A and 519A, described abovewith respect to FIG. 5B. If the request is for the performance tier 112,then the RAID layer 244A is used to obtain the data from the performancetier 112.

If the request is for the capacity tier 128, then in block B630, theprocess first determines if an object associated with the requested datahas been created and stored at the capacity tier 128. If yes, then theobject name and offset is obtained from the object metafile and the datais retrieved from the object store 124.

When the object has not completely been created and/or the object hasnot been stored at the capacity tier 128 yet, then in block B636, theobject staging data structure 532 is used to obtain the TLOG FBN. TheTLOG FBN then provides the PVBN for the data associated with therequest. From the TLOG FBN, in block B636, the PVBN of the performancetier 112 is obtained. The read request is then processed by obtainingthe data from the performance tier instead.

FIG. 6C shows an example of obtaining the data from the capacity tier128. The read request provides the volume information V1 in block 642.The container file of the volume is retrieved in block 644. Thecontainer file has a BTID of 757 and a unique identifier of0XDABC6934FE. The container file points to an object PVBN 646 thatprovides an object ID 101 and slot 5. The object ID is shown in theobject metafile 648. The object name is then shown in block 650, whichpoints to the actual object 652 in the capacity tier 128.

In one aspect, the use of TLOG 512 may be used for asynchronoustransfers to the capacity tier 128 or to a slower RAID group (not shown)than the performance tier 112. The TLOG 512 enables use of batch groupsfor transferring data.

The processes described above have various advantages. Incoming colddata is buffered using the TLOG 512. The cold data may reside in theperformance tier 112. The transfer of the cold data is executed as partof a CP operation. The TLOG 512 enables efficient addressing and avoidspointer updates in files after the data is moved.

In another aspect, TLOG 512 enables assembly of multiple objects at thesame time, for one or more volumes. This again is efficient for a CPwrite operation. Furthermore, to move data from the performance tier112, the TLOG 512 points to the PVBN of the performance tier 112 andhence, one does not have to write the data twice at the performance tier112 or assign a new PVBN.

In yet another aspect, the TLOG 512 may operate as a read-cache for dataalready in the capacity tier 128, if the TLOG 512 is not purged afterthe data has been stored at the capacity tier 128. For example, thesystem may keep one day's worth of data that was stored at the capacitytier 128 at the TLOG 512 and purge the TLOG 512 if it is not accessed.

In yet another aspect, the TLOG 512 may be used as a throttlingmechanism to manage flow control. For example, when write operations tothe capacity tier 128 are slow, the TLOG 512 will fill up quickly andmay be used to provide feedback to throttle the rate at which data isbeing tiered.

Storage System Node:

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a node 208.1 that is illustrativelyembodied as a storage system comprising of a plurality of processors702A and 702B, a memory 704, a network adapter 710, a cluster accessadapter 712, a storage adapter 716 and local storage 713 interconnectedby a system bus 708.

Processors 702A-702B may be, or may include, one or more programmablegeneral-purpose or special-purpose microprocessors, digital signalprocessors (DSPs), programmable controllers, application specificintegrated circuits (ASICs), programmable logic devices (PLDs), or thelike, or a combination of such hardware devices.

The local storage 713 comprises one or more storage devices utilized bythe node to locally store configuration information for example, in aconfiguration data structure 714.

The cluster access adapter 712 comprises a plurality of ports adapted tocouple node 208.1 to other nodes of cluster 202. In the illustrativeaspect, Ethernet may be used as the clustering protocol and interconnectmedia, although it will be apparent to those skilled in the art thatother types of protocols and interconnects may be utilized within thecluster architecture described herein. In alternate aspects where thenetwork modules and storage modules are implemented on separate storagesystems or computers, the cluster access adapter 712 is utilized by thenetwork/storage module for communicating with othernetwork/storage-modules in the cluster 202.

Each node 208.1 is illustratively embodied as a dual processor storagesystem executing the storage operating system 134 that preferablyimplements a high-level module, such as a file system, to logicallyorganize the information as a hierarchical structure of nameddirectories and files at storage 112/128. However, it will be apparentto those of ordinary skill in the art that the node 208.1 mayalternatively comprise a single or more than two processor systems.Illustratively, one processor 702A executes the functions of the networkmodule on the node, while the other processor 702B executes thefunctions of the storage module.

The memory 704 illustratively comprises storage locations that areaddressable by the processors and adapters for storing programmableinstructions and data structures. The processor and adapters may, inturn, comprise processing elements and/or logic circuitry configured toexecute the programmable instructions and manipulate the datastructures. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that otherprocessing and memory means, including various computer readable media,may be used for storing and executing program instructions pertaining tothe disclosure described herein.

The storage operating system 134 portions of which is typically residentin memory and executed by the processing elements, functionallyorganizes the node 208.1 by, inter alia, invoking storage operation insupport of the storage service implemented by the node.

In one aspect, data that needs to be written is first stored at a bufferlocation of memory 704. Once the buffer is written, the storageoperating system acknowledges the write request. The written data ismoved to NVRAM storage and then stored persistently either at theperformance tier 112 or the capacity tier 128.

The network adapter 710 comprises a plurality of ports adapted to couplethe node 208.1 to one or more clients 204.1/204.N over point-to-pointlinks, wide area networks, virtual private networks implemented over apublic network (Internet) or a shared local area network. The networkadapter 710 thus may comprise the mechanical, electrical and signalingcircuitry needed to connect the node to the network. Each client204.1/204.N may communicate with the node over network 206 (FIG. 2A) byexchanging discrete frames or packets of data according to pre-definedprotocols, such as TCP/IP.

The storage adapter 716 cooperates with the storage operating system 134executing on the node 208.1 to access information requested by theclients. The information may be stored on any type of attached array ofwritable storage device media such as video tape, optical, DVD, magnetictape, bubble memory, electronic random access memory, micro-electromechanical and any other similar media adapted to store information,including data and parity information. However, as illustrativelydescribed herein, the information is preferably stored at storage device212.1. The storage adapter 716 comprises a plurality of ports havinginput/output (I/O) interface circuitry that couples to the storagedevices over an I/O interconnect arrangement, such as a conventionalhigh-performance, Fibre Channel link topology.

Processing System:

FIG. 8 is a high-level block diagram showing an example of thearchitecture of a processing system 800 that may be used according toone aspect. The processing system 800 can represent host system 102,management console 132, clients 116, 204 or storage system 108. Notethat certain standard and well-known components which are not germane tothe present aspects are not shown in FIG. 8.

The processing system 800 includes one or more processor(s) 802 andmemory 804, coupled to a bus system 805. The bus system 805 shown inFIG. 8 is an abstraction that represents any one or more separatephysical buses and/or point-to-point connections, connected byappropriate bridges, adapters and/or controllers. The bus system 805,therefore, may include, for example, a system bus, a PeripheralComponent Interconnect (PCI) bus, a HyperTransport or industry standardarchitecture (ISA) bus, a small computer system interface (SCSI) bus, auniversal serial bus (USB), or an Institute of Electrical andElectronics Engineers (IEEE) standard 1394 bus (sometimes referred to as“Firewire”).

The processor(s) 802 are the central processing units (CPUs) of theprocessing system 800 and, thus, control its overall operation. Incertain aspects, the processors 802 accomplish this by executingsoftware stored in memory 804. A processor 802 may be, or may include,one or more programmable general-purpose or special-purposemicroprocessors, digital signal processors (DSPs), programmablecontrollers, application specific integrated circuits (ASICs),programmable logic devices (PLDs), or the like, or a combination of suchdevices.

Memory 804 represents any form of random access memory (RAM), read-onlymemory (ROM), flash memory, or the like, or a combination of suchdevices. Memory 804 includes the main memory of the processing system800. Instructions 806 may be used to implement the process steps ofFIGS. 5C, 6A and 6B described above, may reside in and execute (byprocessors 802) from memory 804.

Also connected to the processors 802 through the bus system 805 are oneor more internal mass storage devices 810, and a network adapter 812.Internal mass storage devices 810 may be, or may include anyconventional medium for storing large volumes of data in a non-volatilemanner, such as one or more magnetic or optical based disks. The networkadapter 812 provides the processing system 800 with the ability tocommunicate with remote devices (e.g., storage servers) over a networkand may be, for example, an Ethernet adapter, a Fibre Channel adapter,or the like.

The processing system 800 also includes one or more input/output (I/O)devices 808 coupled to the bus system 805. The I/O devices 808 mayinclude, for example, a display device, a keyboard, a mouse, etc.

Cloud Computing:

The system and techniques described above are applicable and useful inthe upcoming cloud computing environment. Cloud computing meanscomputing capability that provides an abstraction between the computingresource and its underlying technical architecture (e.g., servers,storage, networks), enabling convenient, on-demand network access to ashared pool of configurable computing resources that can be rapidlyprovisioned and released with minimal management effort or serviceprovider interaction. The term “cloud” is intended to refer to theInternet and cloud computing allows shared resources, for example,software and information to be available, on-demand, like a publicutility.

Typical cloud computing providers deliver common business applicationsonline which are accessed from another web service or software like aweb browser, while the software and data are stored remotely on servers.The cloud computing architecture uses a layered approach for providingapplication services. A first layer is an application layer that isexecuted at client computers. In this example, the application allows aclient to access storage via a cloud. After the application layer, is acloud platform and cloud infrastructure, followed by a “server” layerthat includes hardware and computer software designed for cloud specificservices, for example, the capacity tier 128 is accessible as a cloudservice. Details regarding these layers are not germane to theembodiments disclosed herein.

Thus, a method and apparatus for using performance tier and capacitytier in a networked storage environment have been described. Note thatreferences throughout this specification to “one aspect” (or“embodiment”) or “an aspect” mean that a particular feature, structureor characteristic described in connection with the aspect is included inat least one aspect of the present disclosure. Therefore, it isemphasized and should be appreciated that two or more references to “anaspect” or “one aspect” or “an alternative aspect” in various portionsof this specification are not necessarily all referring to the sameaspect. Furthermore, the particular features, structures orcharacteristics being referred to may be combined as suitable in one ormore aspects of the disclosure, as will be recognized by those ofordinary skill in the art.

While the present disclosure is described above with respect to what iscurrently considered its preferred aspects, it is to be understood thatthe disclosure is not limited to that described above. To the contrary,the disclosure is intended to cover various modifications and equivalentarrangements within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A machine implemented method, comprising:maintaining by a processor an object staging data structure for trackingprogress of building an object to transfer a plurality of data blocksfrom the first storage tier to the second storage tier of a networkedstorage system; wherein the object staging data structure provides anindicator explicitly providing a status of the object indicating whenthe object is being built and when the object is ready for transferringthe plurality of data blocks to the second storage tier; while theobject is being built, updating by the processor a transfer log withaddresses of the first storage tier where data for the plurality of datablocks is stored before the plurality of data blocks are transferred tothe second tier; wherein the object staging data structure stores anoffset value of the transfer log for the addresses of the first storagetier where data for the plurality of data blocks is stored, before theplurality of data blocks are transferred to the second tier; using bythe processor an object metadata data structure and the transfer log togenerate the object for transferring the plurality of data blocks to thesecond tier; and transferring by the processor the plurality of datablocks from the first storage tier to the second storage tier using theobject.
 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: assigning by theprocessor a new object identifier for a new object, when no object isbeing built to transfer any data for any data block; inserting by theprocessor a new entry at the object staging data structure to trackbuilding the new object; and updating by the processor status of the newobject indicating that the new object is being built.
 3. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the first storage tier includes storage devices thatprovide faster access to data than storage devices of the second storagetier.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein in response to a read requestfor data from the second tier, the processor uses the object stagingdata structure to determine that an object associated with the readrequest has not yet been created at the second tier.
 5. The method ofclaim 4, wherein the processor retrieves an offset value of the transferlog from the object staging data structure to ascertain an address ofthe requested data and obtains the address from the transfer log.
 6. Themethod of claim 5, wherein the processor retrieves the requested datausing the ascertained address from the first storage tier.
 7. The methodof claim 4, wherein when the object associated with the read request islocated at the second storage tier, then the processor retrieves therequested data directly from the second storage tier.
 8. Anon-transitory, machine readable storage medium having stored thereoninstructions comprising machine executable code which when executed by amachine, causes the machine to: maintain by a processor an objectstaging data structure for tracking progress of building an object totransfer a plurality of data blocks from the first storage tier to thesecond storage tier of a networked storage system; wherein the objectstaging data structure provides an indicator explicitly providing astatus of the object indicating when the object is being built and whenthe object is ready for transferring the plurality of data blocks to thesecond storage tier; while the object is being built, update by theprocessor a transfer log with addresses of the first storage tier wheredata for the plurality of data blocks is stored before the plurality ofdata blocks are transferred to the second tier; wherein the objectstaging data structure stores an offset value of the transfer log forthe addresses of the first storage tier where data for the plurality ofdata blocks is stored, before the plurality of data blocks aretransferred to the second tier; use by the processor an object metadatadata structure and the transfer log to generate the object fortransferring the plurality of data blocks to the second tier; andtransfer by the processor the plurality of data blocks from the firststorage tier to the second storage tier using the object.
 9. The storagemedium of claim 8, the machine executable code further causing themachine to: assign by the processor a new object identifier for a newobject, when no object is being built to transfer any data for any datablock; insert by the processor a new entry at the object staging datastructure to track building the new object; and update by the processorstatus of the new object indicating that the new object is being built.10. The storage medium of claim 8, wherein the first storage tierincludes storage devices that provide faster access to data than storagedevices of the second storage tier.
 11. The storage medium of claim 8,wherein in response to a read request for data from the second tier, theprocessor uses the object staging data structure to determine that anobject associated with the read request has not yet been created at thesecond tier.
 12. The storage medium of claim 11, wherein the processorretrieves an offset value of the transfer log from the object stagingdata structure to ascertain an address of the requested data and obtainsthe address from the transfer log.
 13. The storage medium of claim 12,wherein the processor retrieves the requested data using the ascertainedaddress from the first storage tier.
 14. The storage medium of claim 11,wherein when the object associated with the read request is located atthe second storage tier, then the processor retrieves the requested datadirectly from the second storage tier.
 15. A system, comprising: amemory containing machine readable medium comprising machine executablecode having stored thereon instructions; and a processor module coupledto the memory to execute the machine executable code to: maintain anobject staging data structure for tracking progress of building anobject to transfer a plurality of data blocks from the first storagetier to the second storage tier of a networked storage system; whereinthe object staging data structure provides an indicator explicitlyproviding a status of the object indicating when the object is beingbuilt and when the object is ready for transferring the plurality ofdata blocks to the second storage tier; while the object is being built,update a transfer log with addresses of the first storage tier wheredata for the plurality of data blocks is stored before the plurality ofdata blocks are transferred to the second tier; wherein the objectstaging data structure stores an offset value of the transfer log forthe addresses of the first storage tier where data for the plurality ofdata blocks is stored, before the plurality of data blocks aretransferred to the second tier; use an object metadata data structureand the transfer log to generate the object for transferring theplurality of data blocks to the second tier; and transfer the pluralityof data blocks from the first storage tier to the second storage tierusing the object.
 16. The system of claim 15, the machine executablecode further causes to: assign by the processor a new object identifierfor a new object, when no object is being built to transfer any data forany data block; insert by the processor a new entry at the objectstaging data structure to track building the new object; and update bythe processor status of the new object indicating that the new object isbeing built.
 17. The system of claim 15, wherein in response to a readrequest for data from the second tier, the processor uses the objectstaging data structure to determine that an object associated with theread request has not yet been created at the second tier.
 18. The systemof claim 17, wherein the processor retrieves an offset value of thetransfer log from the object staging data structure to ascertain anaddress of the requested data and obtains the address from the transferlog.
 19. The system of claim 18, wherein the processor retrieves therequested data using the ascertained address from the first storagetier.
 20. The system of claim 17, wherein when the object associatedwith the read request is located at the second storage tier, then theprocessor retrieves the requested data directly from the second storagetier.